#195: Do you know why stories of people with $.32 refund checks are in the news? Because they are so rare! 

Most people want to get a big tax refund. Getting a huge refund is an extremely inefficient use of money - both for you and for the government.

I recommend adjusting your withholding so you can bring more money home and put it towards your goals:

• High-interest rate debt
• Building up reserves
• Saving or investing

Run a mid-year income tax assessment

Making course corrections in August helps steer your tax withholdings closer to the target - which is to owe nothing or get a small refund. 

It’s almost impossible to be exact, there are too many moving parts, but you can bring your tax-boat closer to the dock in the last few months of the year.

Gather together the following items:

• Last year’s tax return
• Last year’s Schedule A (if you itemized deductions)
• Your last two pay stubs (include your spouse's as well)

Note: If you have a small business or are an entrepreneur then you will need to run a Schedule-C calculation to estimate self-employment income. You may also want to see a tax professional.

Also, you will want to estimate any:

• Child/Dependent Care expenses
• Expected bonuses
• Expected interest, dividends, etc

I use tax preparation software to run my calculation but you could follow the prompts at the IRS website to complete a mid-year tax assessment:

http://apps.irs.gov/app/withholdingcalculator/

If you expect a huge refund:

You could choose to do nothing and continue giving the government more of your money, interest free, and get a huge refund April 15th.

However, I recommend you increase the number of allowances  on your W-4 and give it to your benefits department or HR person. They will adjust your withholding to get you closer to zero.

If you would like help running this calculation then contact me and we will run through it together.

Federal forms and resources mentioned in this episode:

http://apps.irs.gov/app/withholdingcalculator/

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sa.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

In the Ponda from the Honda segment

Only 5.5 more payments to go

$5 a week for 45 years at 10% growth is $228,000

See a chart in the show notes at http://SteveStewart.me/195

Try YNAB (You Need A Budget) for 34 days and receive 10% off if you keep it http://SteveStewart.me/YNAB